DOCUMENTARY LINK: http://youtu.be/zyIb8dUmOyM
FACTS_____________________________________________________________________________
Fao.org. Spotlight: Livestock impacts on the environment.
http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
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Goodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”
WorldWatch, November/December 2009. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA. Pp. 10–19.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
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NASA. “Methane: Its Role as a Greenhouse Gas.” Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/pdfs/podest_ghg.pdf
IPCC. "Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis." Working Group I.
Please note the following PDF is very large and may take a while to load:
http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_ALL_FINAL.pdf
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“Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2006.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
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“USDA ERS – Irrigation & Water Use.” United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. 2013.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-practices-management/irrigation-water-use/background.aspx
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Robbins, John. “2,500 Gallons, All Wet?” EarthSave
http://www.earthsave.org/environment/water.htm
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* SOURCE : http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
Climate Pollution - How Ireland stacks up
Among rich countries Ireland is the 6th most generous overseas aid donor per person. But, Ireland is the 5th most climate polluting country per person.
If everybody lived like the Irish we would need the resources of more than three planet Earths to survive. But we have just one Earth. And if it is to be a just one, we will all have to do our fair share to prevent climate chaos.
Ireland is emitting 17 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person per year (2003, 2004, 2005). This makes us the second worst polluter in the European Union after Luxembourg and compares to an EU average of 11 tonnes.
At a recent show on small-scale power, I saw an interesting display of a domestic biogas generator, ideal for installing in suburban household. It's a good deal: garden waste in, three plate-hours of gas per day out, and it couples to the sewerage system so there's no maintenance. Good so far.
But then I asked the question, "what happens when you're not using the three hours of gas?" The answer is that excess gas simply vents into the sewers.
Now this is not a good solution. Biogas/sewer gas is methane, and although this methane gas in not a fossil fuel, it is still methane, with 25 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide. It is not something that is responsible to vent into the atmosphere. So on the one hand one can displace a fossil fuel with a biofuel, but the spillage of that biofuel leads to increased global warming.
Biogas is used, in places, to generate electricity. One can make money out of this, by capturing methane, say from a landfill, and burning it in an engine that spins a generator and sell the electricity and the carbon credits.
But the engine one uses to spin the generator is a heat engine, and immediately two thirds of the energy is lost as heat. Some methane now will not be vented into the atmosphere, which is good, but it does represent a lost opportunity: more fossil electricity could have been displaced by the biogas. Additionally, generators are expensive, require a lot of maintenance and are more inefficient the smaller they are. It would hardly be worth anyone's while to run one at home.
